Robert Minch - I Say: Dem bones

We recently viewed a DVD titled "The Castles of England" and enjoyed visiting the various locations of mayhem and violence of the monarchy of the past. But imagine the coincidence of viewing sites of Richard III, only to view the strange fellow's bones on TV revealed during a parking lot excavation in Leicester, England.

Knowing of the deformed king from the history books as the last English king to die in battle is one thing but to see his complete skeleton lying in shallow grave with his twisted spine and evidence of his slaying, was just mind boggling. Readers of Shakespeare will recall the king finding himself afoot during the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, and his apparent entreaty (as penned by W.S.) "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"

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Years ago, circa 1965, Bill Dalby, local telephone company manager, thought that I should meet Leo McCoy. Although getting along in years, Mr. McCoy retained much information about the early days of livestock production in Tehama County, and was, at one time, its leading citizen (his phone number was #1), who ran thousands of sheep over thousands of acres west of town.

I remember little today about the meeting, but a vivid image of Leo's wife Lulu remains. For some reason, Bill had lead me up the alley behind the McCoy Victorian at 1111 Washington, and, as we were about to enter the back yard, we spied Mrs. McCoy sitting on the alley. Never at a loss for words, Bill said, "Lulu, I would like you to meet Robert Minch of Minch's Wholesale Meats." Lulu smiled, raised a hand for me to shake, and said, "I slipped and fell here in the alley a while ago and although I am unhurt, I think I will just sit here a bit before going on to the post office. My husband is expecting you." We were reluctant to leave her thus, but Leo came out and said that she would be all right once she had "collected herself."

I mention this anecdote because S. Brasch and M. Ehorn dropped by the office and allowed me to copy a yellowed letter written 97 years ago. It was sent by Mrs. McCoy, in 1916, to her husband, a captain in the local National Guard, who had been dispatched to Nogales, Ariz., evidently to contain the uprising of Pancho Villa.

The ladies had come across this correspondence and thought it of interest. So did I. The letter is quite personal in that Mrs. McCoy lamented her loneliness, questioned her husband's fealty being so far from home, yet commenting upon the heat, her trips to the post office and her belief she was not taking good care of herself in his absence and would he please hurry home. The letter was a poignant look into the mind of this prominent local woman so many years ago, and I now wish I had insisted on helping her to her feet that day in the alley and had asked her to join our conversation. It would have been more stimulating and revealing.

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Award winning novelist Jamaica Kincaid was interviewed by TIME. When the interviewer said, "So, it's not interesting to you that the most powerful man in America is black?" She replied, "Not really. But here is an interesting thing.

As I say, race is not important to me. The first time I saw Barack Obama, he gave a wonderful speech. But what made me really like him is that his wife is darker than he is. It's so rare to see a black man married to a woman who is darker than he is."

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When the 90 Years Ago Today section reported a missing black man in the Bowman area, I speculated that he might have been a victim of foul play. However, A. Jackson, who is compiling a book, "Colored Pioneers of Tehama County," set me straight on the subject. Alice said the man's name was Reubbin McDonald, a 36-year-old Negro male born in Texas. He died in Hooker in December 1922 and was interred Feb. 3, 1923 in a plot belonging to Donald McDonald. Alice also enclosed a Daily News article dated Feb. 1, 1923 stating "The body of R. MacDonald, colored, better known as Young Jack Johnson, former prize fighter, was found today a short distance from his cabin on his homestead, four miles west of Hooker." She adds, "As far as can be determined, there was no evidence of foul play. It is believed MacDonald, in a partly demented condition, wandered away from his home where he had spent the last 5 years, and died of exposure." So, according to sources, Reubbin went to his reward alone, and without issue...and thereby our tale concludeth.

*** Last week's quiz was first answered by published cartoonist R. Ranberg who knew that pieces of jigsaw puzzles are referred to as "nibs and voids," that "woodchuck" is another name for a "groundhog," and that Lil' Abner's girlfriend's (later his wife) full name is Daisy Mae Scraggs.

This week's quiz: What is meant by a person dying "testate," a tenant in a lease having "an estate at sufferance" and what is the most important characteristic of "joint tenancy" regarding title to property?

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An adventurous lady decided to sleep with a man who had never been with a woman. She traveled the world over and her search brought her to Australia where she found a man who, having spent his life in the outback, hadn't even seen a woman in 30 years. The lady brought the man to her hotel room. He looked around and said, "This room ain't big enough!"

The lady said," It seems large enough to me".

The man replied, "Well, I never slept with a woman before, but if it's anything like a kangaroo, we'll need all the room we can get!"

----------- Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff and former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magzine. He can be reached at rminchandmurray@hotmail.com.